Hair Styling Mask and Method of Use

ABSTRACT

A hair styling aid designed to isolate or mask various portions of an individual&#39;s hair while exposing others so as to enable precise treatment of the exposed areas. Through use of this styling aid, hair stylists may create complex and intricate designs in an individual&#39;s hair with relatively little effort. This hair styling aid may comprise a single mask or a series of masks, each tailored to contribute a particular detail to the overall design.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to hair styling aids and methods of using said aids. This disclosure particularly relates to a stenciling mask designed to fit a person's head so as to expose a specific portion of that person's hair for treatment. The disclosure also includes the method of using one or more of said masks to create a desired aesthetic result.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

People in society draw many conclusions about each other according to personal appearances. An important factor in an individual's overall personal appearance is his or her choice of hair care and styling. In many situations a person's social and professional status may be impacted by his or her hair style choice. In creative sectors of society, individuals are rewarded with admiration for developing unique and creative personal style. This drives a need for new and innovative looks.

Many products have been developed to serve this need. Various products with ingredients such as resins, gums, and silicone based chemicals allow an individual to alter his or her hair's physical qualities such as texture, friction, and body. Further, bleaches, paints and dyes allow an individual to alter hair coloring. Various combinations of the plethora of products on the market allow for numerous hair style possibilities.

Many hair styles require exposing different areas of an individual's hair with different treatments. This may present a challenge to the stylist in shielding or blocking the hair not intended for the particular treatment from the treatment reagents. The process of creating “highlights” illustrates a simple example of this problem. When creating “highlights” a stylist typically bleaches or dyes various strands of hair while leaving the adjacent hair untreated. A stylist must shield the adjacent hair from the bleach or dye through the duration of the treatment. This is often accomplished by placing a piece of aluminum foil beneath the length of the strand of hair intended for treatment positioned so as to isolate the hair undergoing treatment and the active reagents from the surrounding hair.

More elaborate and intricate styles requiring multiple treatments create a need for more involved solutions to the problem of isolating the adjacent hair from the active reagents. The present disclosure provides an advanced solution enabling more complex hair styling options. The present disclosure distinguishes over the related art providing heretofore unknown advantages as described in the following summary

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure includes an apparatus designed to aid the styling of hair and a method for styling hair using said apparatus.

One embodiment of the apparatus comprises a portion of flexible material that is impermeable to hair styling products such as bleach, paints, and dyes. The portion of material features specially shaped sections removed such that when the apparatus is placed firmly against an individual's head, his or her hair is only exposed through the removed sections. The individual's remaining hair is masked such that a stylist may apply a hair styling treatment product to the exposed portions of hair without a risk of exposing the adjacent hair. By carefully designing the shape and size of the removed sections, the apparatus serves as a hair styling template greatly reducing the difficulty of creating hair styles that include intricate patterns and designs.

The apparatus may be unitary, comprising a single mask for a single hair treatment that aids in creating the shape of the style pattern or design, or alternatively, the apparatus may comprise a plurality of masks. More elaborate designs may be created with a greater number of masks, each designed to isolate a portion of the individual's hair for a different treatment intended to add a particular detail to the overall style pattern or design. In some multiple mask designs, the series of masks may be applied in any particular order, whereas with other designs, the order in which the masks are applied may be critical to attaining the desired outcome. The application order or lack thereof may be critical to the method of utilizing the disclosed apparatus.

The form of the portion of flexible material that comprises the mask is not critical to the invention, so long as it may be secured firmly against an individual's head and it isolates the hair exposed through the removed section. In one embodiment, the apparatus takes the form of a cap constructed from an elastic material such as silicone, synthetic rubber, or other materials with similar properties. Such construction both ensures a firm fit and provides the economy of fitting individuals with a variety of head sizes. The removed sections of the cap material are positioned such that when an individual wears the cap the removed sections are situated above the area of the individual's hair the stylist wishes to address. An additional advantage of this embodiment is the large amount of cover for the individual's surrounding hair that is not intended for treatment.

In another embodiment, the apparatus takes the form of a headband with either elastic properties or the ability to adjust its length to ensure a secure fit. The stylist may position and adjust the headband to both ensure a secure fit and to orient the removed sections in the desire location.

In a still further embodiment, the apparatus may comprise a strip with a means of securing one end. The stylist may position the apparatus appropriately and manually by applying a tensile force to the opposing end to ensure the apparatus is firmly positioned against the individual's head. Some examples of securing mechanisms may include a chin strap or laces, a non-toxic temporary adhesive, or a clip. Exemplar are not intended to be limiting. Other means may also be utilized without departing from the spirit of the invention.

This disclosure teaches certain benefits in construction and use which give rise to the objectives described below.

A primary objective inherent in the above described apparatus and method of use is to provide advantages not taught by the prior art.

Another objective is to provide a means of aiding a stylist in creating innovative hair styles.

A further objective is to lessen the time and expense of creating complex hair style designs.

A still further objective is to enable hair stylists to create hair style designs with greater complexity and intricacy.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the presently described apparatus and method of its use.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The accompanying drawings illustrate various exemplary implementations and are part of the specification. The illustrated implementations are proffered for purposes of example not for purpose of limitation. Illustrated elements will be designated by numbers. Once designated, an element will be identified by the identical number throughout. Illustrated in the accompanying drawing(s) is at least one of the best mode embodiments of the present invention. In such drawing(s):

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an exemplary cap-style embodiment of the presently described apparatus configured to isolate a series of star shaped portions of an individual's hair;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of an exemplary cap-style embodiment of the presently described apparatus configured to isolate letter shaped portions of an individual's hair;

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an exemplary cap-style embodiment of the presently described apparatus configured to isolate tribal pattern shaped portions of an individual's hair;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of an exemplary cap-style embodiment of the presently described apparatus configured to isolate leopard spot shaped portions of an individual's hair;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of an exemplary cap-style embodiment of the presently described apparatus configured to isolate tiger stripe shaped portions of an individual's hair also featuring laces to firmly secure the apparatus on an individual's head;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of an exemplary head-band-style embodiment of the presently described apparatus configured to isolate a series of star shaped portions of an individual's hair;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of an exemplary strip-style embodiment of the presently described apparatus configured to isolate a series of star shaped portions of an individual's hair.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The above-described figures illustrate exemplary embodiments of the hair styling mask and its method of use in at least one of its preferred, best mode embodiments, which is further defined in detail in the following description. Those having ordinary skill in the art may be able to make alterations and modifications to what is described herein without departing from its spirit and scope. Therefore, it must be understood that what is illustrated is set forth only for the purposes of example, and that it should not be taken as a limitation in the scope of the present apparatus and method of use.

FIGS. 1 through 5 illustrate cap-style embodiments 10. It is important that the cap 10 fit securely on the individual's head so that when the stylist is treating the hair exposed through the removed section 20 the active reagents do not easily seep under the cap and come into contact with unexposed or masked portion of the individual's hair. To achieve a secure fit on a variety of head sizes, the cap 10 may be constructed from an elastomer. However, it is also possible to utilize a non-elastic material so long as the cap 10 is sized to fit firmly. This may be achieved through a variety of means including through the use of size adjustment features such as laces 15 as depicted in FIG. 5.

FIG. 6 illustrates a head-band-style embodiment 30. Much like the cap-style embodiment 10, the head-band-style embodiment 30 may be made of any material so long as a firm fit is ensured. Non-elastomer embodiments may include a fastener capable of varying the device circumference.

FIG. 7 illustrates a strip-style embodiment 40. The strip-style embodiment 40 may take several forms, however, like the cap-style embodiment 10 and the head-band-style embodiment 20, it must be situated securely against the individuals head. This can be accomplished a variety of ways. FIG. 7 shows the use of a chin strap 50. The opposing end may be tensioned manually by the stylist or through simple mechanism means such as attaching a small weight, clip, or adjustable strap.

As is demonstrated by the various exemplar designs featured in FIGS. 1 through 5, the number of design variation is virtually limitless. The disclosed apparatus may be used to create an endless number of shape designs. The only limitation being the limited amount of space in the individuals hair in which to work.

The enablements described in detail above are considered novel over the prior art of record, and are considered critical to the operation of at least one aspect of the hair styling mask and its method of use, and to the achievement of the above described objectives. The words used in this specification to describe the instant embodiments are to be understood not only in the sense of their commonly defined meanings, but to include by special definition in this specification: structure, material or acts beyond the scope of the commonly defined meanings. Thus if an element can be understood in the context of this specification as including more than one meaning, then its use must be understood as being generic to all possible meanings supported by the specification and by the word or words describing the element.

The definitions of the words or drawing elements described herein are meant to include not only the combination of elements which are literally set forth, but all equivalent structures, material or acts for performing substantially the same function in substantially the same way to obtain substantially the same result. In this sense, it is therefore contemplated that an equivalent substitution of two or more elements may be made for any one of the elements described and its various embodiments, or that a single element may be substituted for two or more elements in a claim.

Changes from the claimed subject matter as viewed by a person with ordinary skill in the art, now known or later devised, are expressly contemplated as being equivalents within the scope intended and its various embodiments. Therefore, obvious substitutions now or later known to one with ordinary skill in the art are defined to be within the scope of the defined elements. This disclosure is thus meant to be understood to include what is specifically illustrated and described above, what is conceptually equivalent, what can be obviously substituted, and also what incorporates the essential ideas. 

1. An apparatus for aiding the styling of hair, the apparatus comprising: a flexible integument shaped to closely and securely fit and cover an individual head wherein said integument contains a plurality of specially shaped voids capable of exposing and isolating select portions of the individual's hair from low viscosity hair treatment products while covering the remaining portions of the individual's hair.
 2. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said integument is composed of an elastomer.
 3. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said integument is semi-permeable to low viscosity hair treatment products that may be subsequently applied to the select portions of the individual's hair that are exposed and isolated by said plurality of specially shaped voids.
 4. An apparatus for aiding the styling of hair, the apparatus comprising: a flexible integument shaped to closely and securely circumscribe an individual head wherein said integument contains a plurality of specially shaped voids capable of exposing and isolating select portions of the individual's hair from low viscosity hair treatment products while covering the remaining portions of the individual's hair.
 5. An apparatus as in claim 4 wherein said integument is composed of an elastomer.
 6. An apparatus as in claim 4 wherein said integument is semi-permeable to hair treatment products that may be subsequently applied to the individual's hair that is exposed and fluidly isolated through said plurality of specially shaped voids.
 7. An apparatus as in claim 4 wherein said integument is shaped in the form of a continuous ribbon that forms a loop with a circumference equal to the circumference of individual's head so that it may fit firmly and securely around an individual's head.
 8. An apparatus as in claim 7 where said apparatus further includes an adjuster for adjusting the circumference of said integument so that it may be adjusted to fit firmly and securely about an individual's head.
 9. A method of styling an individual's hair, the method comprising the steps of: placing a mask firmly and securely on an individual's head so as to form a barrier to low viscosity hair treatment products and expose and isolate select portions of the individual's hair through a plurality of specially shaped voids; applying hair treatment products to the exposed and isolated portions of the individual's hair; removing said mask from the individual's head.
 10. A method of styling an individual's hair of claim 9 further comprising the steps of: placing a second mask firmly and securely around an individual's head so as to form a barrier to low viscosity hair treatment products and expose and isolate different select portions of the individuals hair through a plurality of different specially shaped voids; applying hair treatment products to the exposed and isolated portions of the individuals hair; removing said second mask from the individual's head.
 11. A method of styling an individual's hair of claim 9 further comprising the steps of: placing a second mask firmly and securely around an individual's head so as to expose and isolate different select portions of the individuals hair through a plurality of different specially shaped voids; applying hair treatment products to the exposed and isolated portions of the individuals hair; removing said mask from the individual's head.
 12. A method of styling an individual's hair of claim 10 further comprising the steps of: adjusting the adjuster to alter the circumference of said mask to achieve a firm and secure fit around and individual's head.
 13. An apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said integument is impermeable to hair treatment products that may be subsequently applied to the select portions of the individual's hair that are exposed through the plurality of specially shaped voids.
 14. An apparatus as in claim 4 wherein said integument is impermeable to hair treatment products that may be subsequently applied the select portions of the individual's hair that are exposed through the plurality of specially shaped voids. 